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I Am Reminded Of Why I Publish Videos

Yes, there are reasons why I talk to myself all day in front of a camera.

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1. They make money. My Ghost Cities of China research travels were in large part fueled by earnings reaped from me videoing myself walking around in new cities.

2. It keeps me focused on what’s happening around me. Always being on the lookout for things to film means more active engagement with my surroundings. This also often ends up leading to more things to write about as well.

3. The most important reason: my daughter likes to watch them.

I recently began doing a daily vlog showing what I do throughout my days on these research trips. It was designed to serve as something my 6 year old daughter could watch each day. Before leaving, I sat down with her a couple of times and we watched some of my videos together. She seemed to like it, so I figured I would make more videos and my wife could watch them with her.

After day three of vlogging my wife stepped in and issued some rather harsh, though probably warranted, criticisms and I canceled the project.

Then a couple of days ago I received this message from my wife:

I was working, Rivka was sleeping, P was in her room “reading”. All of a sudden I hear your voice. At first I think it must be someone outside who sounds like you but then it really sounded like you. I go to P’s room and she is on her tablet, grins at me and says “I snook onto YouTube! I am watching videos of daddy. And guess what I do at the end? I put a like on it!”

This alone makes it worth it.

Filed under: Travel Diary

About the Author:

I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. has written 3699 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

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VBJ is currently in: New York City

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